ENERGY MARKETS AND CLIMATE RISK

The course aims to broaden the student's knowledge on the themes of the environment and environmental policy, with particular reference to the themes of climate change.

Students are expected to be familiar with undergraduate-level notions of calculus, statistics, and basic microeconomics.

By the end of the course, students will have acquired a comprehensive understanding of the main issues related to energy and climate change and their policy solutions; they will be familiar with the pros and cons of the different policy instruments; and they will be up to date on the international negotiation process on climate change, on the political drivers of climate policies, and on their acceptability. This knowledge will enable students to critically interpret the findings of the rapidly expanding economic literature assessing the effects of climate change impacts and policies. It will develop students' ability to think in a multidisciplinary way by connecting political, scientific, and economic processes on climate change issues, and it should help build students' capacity to conduct independent research in these areas.

This course provides an overview of economists' views on energy and climate change. It will apply economic principles to analyse issues related to energy and climate change. In addition to drawing on microeconomic concepts to examine climate policy, as in a standard environmental economics course, the course introduces the essential tools of energy and climate modelling, as well as the main issues involved in estimating the impacts of climate change on socio-economic variables. Finally, the international dimension of climate change policies will be analysed. Students are required to participate actively through group presentations and class discussions on the main debates surrounding energy and climate policy.

My slides. No textbook; various sources in the readings folder. Any microeconomics textbook for the basic concepts.

In-person lectures. Active participation is highly recommended.

The final grade will be determined based on the following two components: - Continuous Assessment (1/3 of the overall grade): the preparation of a paper, to be developed as group work and presented as a seminar during the course. - Final Exam (2/3 of the overall grade): a written exam. For students who do not meet the minimum attendance requirement (at least 70% of classes) and those exempted from mandatory attendance, assessment will be based exclusively on a final written exam (100% of the overall grade).

The paper topics will be assigned by the lecturer. Groups will consist of 3 to 4 students. Attendance is mandatory for the entire group during the presentation.